NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s mayor and President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, should ask for federal assistance if he can’t bring down the city’s rising homicide tally.
The nation’s third-largest city had 762 homicides in 2016 — the most in two decades and more than the largest cities, New York and Los Angeles, combined. The Chicago Police Department says the city had 1,100 more shootings last year than in 2015.
Trump noted the spike in shooting deaths on Twitter, writing Monday: “If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for federal help!”
Emanuel’s spokesman Adam Collins responded in a statement saying that if the federal government really wants to help, it can fund summer jobs programs for at-risk youth and pass meaningful gun laws.
“As the president-elect knows from his conversation with the mayor, we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the criminals who break our gun laws accountable for their crimes, by passing meaningful gun laws, and by building on the partnerships our police have with federal law enforcement. We are heartened he is taking this issue seriously and look forward to working with the new administration on these important efforts.”
Emanuel met with the president-elect last month at Trump Tower in New York City. The mayor asked Trump to drop his plans to deport young undocumented immigrants.
Trump repeatedly referenced Chicago’s violent crime throughout his campaign. Trump has advocated for bringing back stop-and-frisk policing policies to Chicago.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2iwrPia
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